The present inventive concepts relate to cell designs in circuits, and more particularly, cell swapping techniques, devices, and systems based on a ceiling determination, a floor determination, and cell attribute weighting criteria.
Standard cell designs in computer circuits are continually being pushed to meet higher frequency targets and/or lower power dissipation. Higher leakage cells have a higher frequency performance, although at the expense of increased power dissipation. Lower leakage cells have a lower frequency performance, although with the advantage of reduced power dissipation. Conventional tools are inadequate for obtaining a favorable balance between higher leakage and lower leakage cells, thereby causing final circuit designs to suffer both poor performance and high power dissipation. Moreover, conventional techniques result in mismanaged or wasted cell leakage. In other words, each highest leakage cell used in conventional designs does not necessarily improve the maximum frequency achievable. Embodiments of the present inventive concept address these and other limitations in the prior art.